Put the back story on the start puzzle page

[manayaya]

Would it be possible to put the back story for a puzzle on the start puzzle page? This way, we can read it in advance without the timer activated. I’m wondering if other players enjoy reading the paragraph beforehand also.

[bocci]

It's a reasonable suggestion, but I rarely read the back story.

[psgarr]

when you've done a lot of these puzzles, you'll see that the back story is not important at all to doing the puzzle.

[fromalabama]

when you've done a lot of these puzzles, you'll see that the back story is not important at all to doing the puzzle.

Well, except maybe for the puzzle where it's about people getting the wrong crossword answer and some of the clues are about so-and-so getting the correct answer for 18 Down (or whatever)... but that trick only works once per story theme!

[QuizboyNTT]

I agree with you. Sometimes, I just like reading the context, even though I know there are similar stories/themes to each puzzle. But occasionally, I will see a new* set of conditions and wonder what I'm missing.

(*Seemingly, at least, though possibly just failure of memory.)

[Elsajeni]

I agree! Right now it seems as if there's no point to having it there at all -- it's not needed to solve the puzzle, it's hidden by default (you have to click on "Story" to see it at all), and even people who are interested in reading it are unlikely to because it runs up their time. If it were on the "start puzzle" page, people who are interested could take the time to read it -- and since it's not needed to solve the puzzle, it's not as if this would give them an advantage -- and people who aren't could still easily skip it.

[Alethea]

I would also enjoy reading the backstory as long as it wouldn't affect my time.

[uigrad]

This was discussed many times in the forums (before they were completely reset). Admin never replied to the suggestion.

The leading theory was that if the backstory was presented before time began, then some people would automatically skip some puzzles (eg. lat/lon puzzles tend to be harder). I'm not sure if there is truth to that theory or not.

[20LaurenJennings]

Like it would matter if we skipped the puzzle tho? Like it's our decision which puzzles we should play and it wouldn't add anything to our scores. The backstory is just nice to know about is all. A little flavour for us before we gotta start thinking.

[ella]

This was discussed many times in the forums (before they were completely reset). Admin never replied to the suggestion.

The leading theory was that if the backstory was presented before time began, then some people would automatically skip some puzzles (eg. lat/lon puzzles tend to be harder). I'm not sure if there is truth to that theory or not.

there used to be more awards -- like for the percentage you completed (even if your times were awful. I know b/c I won some of those ages ago.) But those awards are gone, so now it really doesn't matter if people skip puzzles, and the stories should be somewhere where we can read them. Right now, I don't think you can even see them after submitting your answers, so I'd guess most people never see them. And I will admit to getting confused more than once about whether "X won game Y" means one thing or the other in a couple of the puzzles from time to time, especially if I've not played that one for a while.

Not sure why they can't respond to any of this. It would be nice for people to be able to read the set-up to the puzzles if they want without ruining their times.

[QuizboyNTT]

Right now, I don't think you can even see them after submitting your answers, so I'd guess most people never see them.

Not sure if you meant "most people never see them if they are focused on fast times", but one can read the story, if they don't care about times. You have to switch from Clues to Story in the clue box. You can also write notes there, which IIRC, was also freely available before, and could be a resource if one wasn't time-focused. (Which, I guess, means they don't care about switching tabs!)

[Alethea]

Alternately, the backstory could show up on the page once the puzzle has been finished. As is it now, the story is only visible while the puzzle is active. We may not want to take the time to read it ahead of the puzzle (since it's not necessary for solving it), but after we complete a puzzle, the backstory might be fun to read while we take a breath and have that "job well done" feeling to enjoy.

[uigrad]

As it is right now, you can actually read the story after you complete the puzzle (at least on Firefox).

Once you get to the completion screen, hit the back button in your browser, then click the tab for "story". It loads just fine. Obviously you can't solve the puzzle and submit it a second time, but reading the story and seeing the clues and the grid works fine.

I'm not sure about other browsers. If there is javascript code to intercept the back button, it doesn't seem to work on Firefox. That's all I can say for certain.

[Pinmat135]

I definitely like this idea. It helps me to solve the puzzle because I can picture the scenario in my head better, and it's also just fun to read.

[pcuser]

I agree. Sometimes I would like to read it after solving the puzzle. I also think it would be helpful for people starting these puzzles. Since we want new people to play, it makes it easier for them to solve puzzles without getting a low score from reading them as it is now.